Hate filtering!!!!

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

This process frustrates me so much!!

Last night I boiled and only made about a gallon and a half of syrup, so I tried using the synthetic cone filter as well as multiple prefilters to filter it all out. I wet them all with boiling water to start, had a TON of niter in the 1st prefilter and as the sap started to cool and just sit in the synthetic filter all it seemed to do was absorb it like a sponge. So now I end up with about half a gallon of product and a synthetic filter totally full of all of my hard work. Just seems like there really should be a better way! Its just infuriating to do all of this hard work and your filters absorb all of the syrup and you cant use any of it. Yes I know about filter presses etc...but I am too small of a producer to justify spending $1000 or more on a filter press.

Any other words of wisdom?

Thanks!

[psparr]

When your done filtering, put your saturated filter in a gallon size freezer bag and store it in the freezer till the next boil. Then take it out and rinse it in your hit sap. None lost.
Second, let that finished syrup settle for a day or so and most of the crap will settle to the bottom. Gently pour off the clear, reheat it and filter. You'll be amazed!

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Im going to start the sitting step and not be in a rush to bottle it, I had read that before.

thanks!

[Bucket Head]

Letting it settle for a while is both good advice and exactly what they did in the old days. A piece of equipment called a settling tank would have the cheese cloth or piece of linen stretched over the top and the syrup would be poured through it. That would only catch the "big" stuff and then the nitre was handled by time and gravity.

[johnallin]

I'm guessing it took many draws to make that 1½ gallons of syrup. If you're trying to filter all of that at once it just won't work.
When I used a cone filter - I had a Leader one cone filter tank - I would pour draws into the filter tank as they came off the rig.
There was never more than maybe a pint or so at a time and it was hot enough to flow through pre-filters and wool hat filter.

[adk1]

This process frustrates me so much!!

Last night I boiled and only made about a gallon and a half of syrup, so I tried using the synthetic cone filter as well as multiple prefilters to filter it all out. I wet them all with boiling water to start, had a TON of niter in the 1st prefilter and as the sap started to cool and just sit in the synthetic filter all it seemed to do was absorb it like a sponge. So now I end up with about half a gallon of product and a synthetic filter totally full of all of my hard work. Just seems like there really should be a better way! Its just infuriating to do all of this hard work and your filters absorb all of the syrup and you cant use any of it. Yes I know about filter presses etc...but I am too small of a producer to justify spending $1000 or more on a filter press.

Any other words of wisdom?

Thanks!For the past 4 years I have used cone filters. This year I have a filter canner so no more cone's for me! Let me ask you something though, at what point are you filtering the syrup? What I would do is I would filter directly off the evaporator into a SS pail. that was my only filtering. I cant really tell if this is what you do....Also, I would assume you are using 3-4 prefilters. when the top one gets clogged, remove it, set it in a pail, and continue.

[valleyman]

When your done filtering, put your saturated filter in a gallon size freezer bag and store it in the freezer till the next boil. Then take it out and rinse it in your hit sap. None lost.
Second, let that finished syrup settle for a day or so and most of the crap will settle to the bottom. Gently pour off the clear, reheat it and filter. You'll be amazed!

Great ideas, thanks to all.
I'm small scale too, Typically 1/2-1 gallon weekend batches. I've settled on the let gravity settle the niter. After the days boil I'll pour the concentrated sweet thru a prefilter or two into a ss pail, Let that settle overnight or a couple nights and pour off carefully into my final pan to finish on propane.

[pennslytucky]

if you are just doing small batches like that, viva paper towels work perfect. also, do your filtering before its syrup. filtering 3 gallons of 40% is a snap compared to 1.5 gallon of 66%, even with tons of nitre.

[buckeye gold]

I fought filtering also for a long time and my opinion is that cone filters are the worse syrup filter ever thought of, I know others will disagree, but that is how i feel. For the small producer finishing small draws at a time they are not a good option. I am pretty sure your problem lies in cooling the syrup too fast. I agree with Johnallin that small batches are better when doing small amounts. Smaller volumes make it through the filter before it cools too much. Also, I do not wait very long to pull the first prefilter, maybe 30 seconds. I have went to making my own filters out of flat stock synthetic filter cloth. I found a good size wire fryer basket and my wife sews the filters so they are the same shape and fit right in the basket. when I know I have a draw coming I wet these filters and hang them in the steam column so they stay hot. I also filter off the evaporator at near syrup as I finish on propane. when I have syrup on the finisher I put the filters in the basket into my final pot I have rigged to hold the filters and frame and immediately cover it. I can do up to a half gallon at a time and usually all the syrup is through the filters in 5 minutes or less. When Nitre is bad I pull the first prefilter soon after I pour in the syrup, as it holds most of the nitre and slows the flow and allows cooling. I have very little residual syrup left in my filters, maybe 10% of what I started with. I will rinse my final filters in the hot sap, but not the prefilters, because they hold most of the heavy nitre. This works for me as most of my filter area is flat and the syrup does not have to travel along more filter to exit. I hope this helps.

[psparr]

I don't use the coffee urn any longer, but worked well.
https://youtu.be/9kdVThgyq_M

[n8hutch]

When I was a kid we used to make 200 plus gallons of syrup per year and it all was filtered with cone filters. Up to recently I filtered up to 25 gallons a year with cone filters. It shouldn't be that bad.

Your syrup needs to be hot hot, right off the evaporator is best 200° plus and proper density. If your over on density it really doesn't work well.

The filters definitely need to be wet I would leave mine in boiling water right up until moments before I used them prefilters also.

I use this same technique with flat filters now and have no issues. I plan to flat filter over 100 gallons this year with any luck.

[SeanD]

All good ideas here. I'll just add a few more things that help me get every drop from cone filters:

-When I first start for the day, I'll take the bucket (with no hole in the bottom) that holds my nested filters and sit it on top of the dividers on the sap pan. Just before the first draw comes, I'll scoop up sap from the boiling pan and pour it into the nested filter setup. The hot sap wets and heats the filters and dumps the sap back into the pan.
-I've gotten better at longer draws, so the syrup going into the filter keeps what's already in there hot.
-During draws, my filters sit, nested on top of the draw off pail and I wrap the whole thing in a thick bath towel - even the top so there is only enough space for the new syrup to flow in.
-When one filter clogs, I use tongs to lift it an an angle and clothespin it to the side of the next filter. That way the new syrup is going into a new filter, but the clogged one can continue to drain slowly.
-At the end of the night during cool down or if there is a lag between draws, I'll pick up the draw off pail and filters above and put the whole thing on top of the dividers in my pan - bath towel and all. The steam (even during cool down) keeps the pail and filters hot.
-I also rinse the synthetic filter in the sap pan to clear out the good stuff.

I don't LOVE how I filter, but I don't dread it either. It's been good for about 50 gallons per year so far.

Sean

[BAP]

One thing that helps filtering with the cone filter is to buy the wool felt filters. They are more expensive, but I find it is a lot easier getting the syrup threw it than the synthetic material.

[Jebediah]

We quit filtering a couple years ago (we don't sell it). Very liberating! Our syrup is not for the faint of heart...

[pennslytucky]

Just fyi, if you are using wool filter materials, the syrup is no longer "vegan". If you care. I have a customer who is vegan, and only buys from me because I showed the entire process from drill bit to glass jar.

[Bucket Head]

I use cone filters and prefilters also. I have four stainless steel milk cans (the 10 gal., full size cans) and put a filter and three or four prefilters in each can. I will remove a prefilter as it starts to slow. I will use one can until syrup no longer is going through then I swap that one out. The four can setup allows me to filter quite a bit of syrup. The other help is the can and filters hold the heat/steam in, so the filters are always warm and moist. A one can system would probably work well for a lot guys that only have a couple of gallons to filter.

[Lukie]

same here i used to hate filtering but i dont sell mine so i changed up a little i boil on a 2X3 flat pan and make 20 gallons a year 100 taps . I take mine of the pan around 213-214 filtering it 3 pre and the wool cone then i have 20 quart stainless steel pot with a spout welded out the side and place it on top of a turkey burner and bring it to 218 and filter from spout (goes through filter alot easyer thin )then into a 5 gallon plastic bucket with bottom cut out and wool filter attached to that setting on top of a pan and filter through 4 pre and one wool filter
then wash out the pan with the spout and pour back into pot bring the syrup to 219 or 220 i use hydrometer to be correct and fill from pot (i know it will make a little niter heating it again but it looks pretty darn clear in a mason jar) usaully makes about 2-3 gallons per batch

[maple marc]

With 100 taps, we are about the same size. Agreed....filtering is the least fun of the whole experience. I struggled with cone filtering in my kitchen for years--5 gallon batches, not just difficult but dangerous pouring stock pots of hot syrup into the cone. And if you are bottling into glass, you will be very frustrated trying to get acceptable syrup from a cone. Finally got a 5" filter press and what a difference. Save up and save yourself some heartache. Last tip....don't get a hand pump.....more aggravation.
Marc

[ScottyWelden]

I'm a small-timer (2nd year). I collect and pour though a sheet into my collection tank. Then I skim frequently when boiling. Then I filter almost-syrup through a tee shirt. (bought a package of XL tee shirts at Walmart.) Into the house, and one more run through a tee shirt. Then on the stove to finish it, and through another tee shirt. If I reheat to bottle, it goes through another tee shirt before going into the coffee urn. It's quite a few filterings, but it runs through a tee shirt pretty easily.

[pyro]

The only year I have done this so far I tried filtering luke warm syrup through a coffee filter or a cleaned baby wipe. I thought I needed some pressure to push it through the filter so I took a piece of 6 ft pex with a funnel at the top. The bottom of the pex had the filter ballooned and clamped to the hose with a hose clamp. 6 ft gives about 2.6 psi. I felt like this helped, but I may have eventually just damaged the filter to get it to flow.

This year I realize I want to try the same thing but do a few things different:
1. Use boiling hot syrup
2. Valve off a stock pot at the top
3. Second valve at bottom of pex near filter.

Any thoughts? If this works, I think I can bottle right there.

[killingworthmaple]

Lots of great info I agree with. I too struggled with filtering for years till I figured out a system that worked for me.

1. filter hot off the evaporator with prefilter into a drawoff tank
2. let syrup settle in drawoff tank for serveral days adding every boil
3. empty drawoff tank slowly so you don't disturb niter on bottom
4. finish syrup to proper density and filter again
5. Bottle syrup

The step of settling the syrup in the tank removes tons of niter sometimes there would be an inch of niter on the bottom.

Nathan

[maplestudent]

The only year I have done this so far I tried filtering luke warm syrup through a coffee filter or a cleaned baby wipe. I thought I needed some pressure to push it through the filter so I took a piece of 6 ft pex with a funnel at the top. The bottom of the pex had the filter ballooned and clamped to the hose with a hose clamp. 6 ft gives about 2.6 psi. I felt like this helped, but I may have eventually just damaged the filter to get it to flow.



I'm having a hard time getting past the "or a cleaned baby wipe" part. Are you saying the baby wipe was once......uh....not clean?

[pyro]

Cleaned to get the chemicals or whatever comes on them. Or maybe I mixed them up??? :confused: ;)

[maple flats]

There are even larger producers who use filters rather than a filter press. Check out some of the filtering posts by mountainvan. He uses filter aid and flat filters.

[eustis22]

how do you know you got all the chemicals out of the baby wipes????

I finish my syrup inside on my stove but when I draw off I found that the setup to hold filters was awkward so I purchased a poultry killing cone to hold my paper filters and just mounted that on my draw-off bucket

[mapleguy]

I find it so hard to believe and very frustrating to read, to have such a problem with such a simple process. I've used flat filters since I've been doing this with absolutely no problem whatsoever. Maybe this guy is just a troll!

[pyro]

This is only my second year so I'm still figuring out what works and what doesn't. The wipe was only for the last bit that was getting close to the settled niter that just completely blocked the coffee filter. This year I I purchased the flat filters but don't have anything to sit them in. A different thread said to lay them in a wire basket but I'm not sure where to buy. I suspect more people aren't doing the flat filter due to the container needed. My other idea was to force the syrup through using gravity through a 6-10ft pipe with filter hose clamped on the end. This should create a few psi of pressure to help it along.

[Super Sapper]

I have seen screens that sit across a kitchen sink that may work with a pot under it.

[psparr]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160213/df362e2d3702595242d55fbb1d565efc.jpg This is the idea. Need something with sides to keep the syrup in.

[ash10383]

I haven't done any yet but I was going to get a couple flat filters and put them in my ss colander like below

http://www.amazon.com/Bellemain-Micro-perforated-Stainless-5-quart-Colander-Dishwasher/dp/B00O97D0DO/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1455555342&sr=1-1&keywords=colander

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Yeah, 3 pages of trolls!! Stupid comment



I find it so hard to believe and very frustrating to read, to have such a problem with such a simple process. I've used flat filters since I've been doing this with absolutely no problem whatsoever. Maybe this guy is just a troll!

[buckeye gold]

Ash, the colander looks to have a lot of holes, but it will still hold back a lot of syrup and cool fast. I found a stainless wire fryer basket that is a lot more open and it improved my filtering. Search for wire baskets and see what you find. here's an example

http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-0125-Mesh-Basket/dp/B0009JXYTQ/ref=sr_1_28?ie=UTF8&qid=1455556815&sr=8-28&keywords=wire+fryer+basket

[Super Sapper]

http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-1251550/polder-expandable-sink-strainer.jsp?ci_mcc=ci&utm_campaign=EC%20FOOD%20PREP&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=google&utm_product=93509647&CID=shopping15&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=93509647&gclid=CjwKEAiAi4a2BRCu_eXo3O_k3hUSJABmN9N1kgem6w5W xzSRItByJud7ydpoOqkRioOnpshJPbAGLhoCPNHw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CJmIxvim-soCFRZIAQodVZUPIA

This may be another option.

[pyro]

Ok, now you got me looking for the right products. I then stumbled on a BBQ Grilling Basket. Never heard of a grilling basket, but it looks about perfect:

15" x 11" x 2": Culina Grilling Basket (http://www.amazon.com/Culina%C2%AE-Stainless-Square-Vegetable-Grilling/dp/B00YBF97Z4/ref=pd_sim_86_5?ie=UTF8&dpID=516WrxxWHhL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=18G2119MPHM67XEW6E63)

Not sure if the shallow larger surface area is better for syrup heat retention or the round but very deep one that buckeye gold posted. I think either looks promising.

[mapleguy]

Smells Like Syrup, wasn't referring to all the comments, just the one. Baby wipes, come on Think about it! And everyone wonders why the FDA is getting involved. Stupid is right on!!!!!

[Abattoir]

Smells Like Syrup, wasn't referring to all the comments, just the one. Baby wipes (https://toodrie.com/baby-wipes/), come on Think about it! And everyone wonders why the FDA is getting involved. Stupid is right on!!!!!
Couldn't agree more. No matter how clean baby wipes are, you simply can't use it as filter.

[barnbc76]

I always hate filtering too, had the same problems. I did not see this mentioned but there is a trick to help with the cone filter. Someone on here makes it I forget what it's called now but it should help, it creates a top hat configuration using SS wire, you can buy it from the guy. I do similar but use a colander upside down. I still have the problem of disappearing syrup like you do but it filters quickly and nice quality.


Just remembered the name he calls it the optomiser.

[woodsy]

Best luck with filtering yet was last year using white t shirt material.
Bought 3 pack shirts $10, wash and cut squares from the shirts, tripled up in a SS wire mesh strainer, remove layers as they plug up.
Crystal clear and no settlement at all in the finished product. Small time, 1 gallon syrup per boil. reusable material.
Agree though filtering has been the biggest challenge over the years, no more.
Also like the idea of letting the niter settle out for a spell.

[Galena]

I tried clean white T-shirts a few times but wasn't happy with them...the weave was inconsistent from batch to batch so the nitre-laden syrup might just shoot right through, or filter slowly as is ideal.

So I have gone back to using only paper coffee filters - go to CostCo and get like 600 for $5. They are cheap, they work (I clip them onto plastic food-grade funnels that are used only for sugaring, with wooden clothespins that have been boiled to leach off any chemicals, and air-dried) and when one clogs up with nitre, you can slip a replacement funnel/filter setup underneath and remove the junky one. If there is still some syrup in the junky one you can pierce the bottom of the filter with a sharp knife. Yes some nitre will get through but a lot will stay stuck in the pleats of the coffee filter. And I often burn the used filters cause they're paper and the sugar makes for a nice little jolt in the fire!

[pobryan]

I always hate filtering too, had the same problems. I did not see this mentioned but there is a trick to help with the cone filter. Someone on here makes it I forget what it's called now but it should help, it creates a top hat configuration using SS wire, you can buy it from the guy. I do similar but use a colander upside down. I still have the problem of disappearing syrup like you do but it filters quickly and nice quality.


Just remembered the name he calls it the optomiser.

Yes, it is called the Optimizer. We have been making and selling them for 3 years. It uses standard cone filters and really makes filtering easier. There is a thread in this forum called "How to use all of a cone filter" that talks about it in depth. Also here is video on the product.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH1-udM8VNU&t=34s

[Woodsrover]

If everyone on here ignores anything I ever say, listen to me about my filtering process.

I draw of just before syrup.
Finish in a 10 gallon stock pot over propane with a spigot 1" off the bottom.
When finished, turn heat off and let settle for a day or two.
Draw syrup out of stock pot leaving the niter below the spigot.
Re-heat in a double-boiler. This is probably the most important part. Heating over direct flame will only produce more niter.
When back up to 190-200 degrees, pour through a pre-moistened wool filter with a pre-filter inside it.
I use custom filter box welded inside another post that keeps the syrup hot. I filter over the stove with the water in the lower pot just simmering to keep the syrup above 180 degrees.

Without trying to brag, I get almost perfectly clean syrup with almost no niter every after sitting for a year. Its simple and easy and stress-free.

Thread about my filter box (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?29733-Ghetto-fab-water-jacket-filter-box)

19446

[TapTapTap]

I'm new to sugaring but I was convinced last year to get a filter press. I think it is the single greatest improvement to the quality of my syrup.

I quickly saw the benefits of efficient and high quality filter after the draw off. But more than that, later in the season you can use it to clean out the syrup pan and bring your product back to a cleaner and lighter grade.

I'll bet it's like air conditioning in your car - would you ever go back?

[JYb.shopteacher]

This has been a great thread, this is my method as of the 2018 season https://youtu.be/7FskrCyu_hY
Improvements I plan to initiate this season as a result of reading this thread. I hope to build a surround to go around my filter rack (possibly bucket), I also will be taking my cone filter and storing it in a clean bucket after filtering and eventually rinsing it in the sap barrel from the next run. Thanks for the collage of great methods!

[buckeye gold]

I think the most intriguing concept of date is the vacuum filters